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Comments Posted By agrippa

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Weekend Music Theme-As You Please

» Posted By agrippa On June 8, 2013 @ 4:51 pm

» Posted By agrippa On June 8, 2013 @ 4:49 pm

This Weekend’s Music Thread-Stormy Weather

» Posted By agrippa On June 2, 2013 @ 6:22 pm

» Posted By agrippa On June 2, 2013 @ 6:20 pm

» Posted By agrippa On June 2, 2013 @ 6:18 pm

Koch Funded or Founded Institutions/Policy Centers

Excellent.
I am glad that you published it all. It is very useful.

» Posted By agrippa On May 30, 2013 @ 12:51 pm

Fred C. Koch, father of David and Charles Koch

That is an informative article.
I did not know that much about them.
Yashna Levine gives me a name to look for.

Thanks.

» Posted By agrippa On May 28, 2013 @ 4:23 pm

Chained CPI – Grand Betrayal, Social Security Fix, or Something Else?

I do not care very much for Obama’s proposal; and, for ( essentially) the same reasons as funksands.
Personally, I like raising the income cap. But, in today’s political environment, very little is possible.

The peoples view site is very good.

» Posted By agrippa On May 28, 2013 @ 4:14 pm

FOUND: Paul Ryan’s Lost Budget!

Adlib,
Over the entire nation, the GOP has about a 47% base; and, a majority in some states/regions. There is no good reason for them to change.

yes, the GOP is ‘stuck’.

» Posted By agrippa On March 20, 2013 @ 5:09 am

The Washington GOP is not serious. Ryan, and others, are putting on a show for their base ( over the whole country, about 47% of the voters. If this party were actually serious about making a law, it would actually negotiate with the other side.
The GOP in the HoR are fully aware that any budget passed in the HoR will never pass in the Senate.

The GOP does not want to make laws; it does not want to pass a budget.

That is the bottom line.

» Posted By agrippa On March 20, 2013 @ 5:04 am

Killing Mitt Romney Softly With Our Votes

hear hear

Romney is, like GWB and Nixon, in the category of “He who cannot be named.”

» Posted By agrippa On March 5, 2013 @ 9:15 am

Romney is not going into ‘retirement’ gracefully or otherwise. Neither has Gingrich; neither has McCain.
He wants, at the very least, to be a major force in the GOP.

He was not going to win the election; nor, was any other Republican on offer.
Good sportsmanship does not apply to politics.

» Posted By agrippa On March 5, 2013 @ 9:09 am

Supreme Irony- Roberts Undone by Scalia

I fail to see how ‘original intent’ can be discerned. Even if it can be, why would ‘original intent’ be an important factor?
This is 2013; not 1787.

» Posted By agrippa On March 2, 2013 @ 5:05 am

Short Posts

It is abd for the country that Trump won.
I think that Trump is gaga. he may do just about anything.
But, GOP people are stupd and lazy.
So, we shall see.

» Posted By agrippa On November 21, 2024 @ 11:06 am

Hello!
I have been here in years.
I remain a libersl Democrat

» Posted By agrippa On November 12, 2024 @ 4:38 pm

I expect that Clinton will be nominated. I will have no difficulty voting for her in November.
If it is Sanders, I will have no problem with him either.
Either one is OK with me.
The issue is Congress; and, people not voting. The turnout in Presidential elections is poor; and, very much worse in off year elections.
If either Clinton or Sanders is elected, more gridlock.

A Liberal agenda requires a strong majority in both Houses of Congress.
Good government requires an active electorate: informed, involved, active; an electorate that actually votes.

» Posted By agrippa On April 24, 2016 @ 4:32 am

That as may be.
You are not going to get progressive legislation passed unless and until you have the majority in the two Houses of Congress that will pass those laws.
It will take a lot of time and effort to do that.

If Clinton is elected, and progressive legislation is not passed – and it will not be – those who like Sanders will turn on him.
As surely as night follows day.

» Posted By agrippa On March 27, 2016 @ 8:45 pm

Sanders supporters – and their leaders – need to understand that this election is step one in a long process.
In order to enact a progressive agenda into law, the two Houses of Congress must have progressive majority; and, a progressive president.
Enthusiasm over the short term is an asset.
But, the long term requires persistence, discipline and organization.

Electing a progressive Congress that will pass laws will require many millions of votes in all 50 states.
The Sanders faction has to understand that. It will not be done quickly or easily.
The USA is a very large and very diverse country; regions and states are unique and the different groups must learn to work together.
The faction must build coalitions.

It can be done. Jackson and van Buren did it; FDR, and his allies did it.

» Posted By agrippa On March 27, 2016 @ 8:05 am

I do not have a strong preference for Sanders or Clinton. I voted for Sanders in the TX primary; but, I could have easily voted the other way.
I figured that 2016 election would be unique; neither party had strong candidates for President. That gave an opening to Sanders and Trump.
And, this election is an open one for both parties.

Also, times are not good; and people are stirred up. People on the left are stirred up one way; people on the right are stirred up the opposite way. That makes this election interesting as well.

It looks like Clinton and Trump will be nominated ( the key words are “looks like”); so the campaign after the conventions will be, as Steve Martin used to say, “wild and crazy”. It will be a great adventure.

It would have been nice if it had not come to this. But, it has.
What will happen after the election will be even more interesting. If Clinton or Sanders wins, I expect a GOP HoR and, maybe, a Democratic Senate. Which is more gridlock.
If Trump is elected, it may turn out to be an exercise in gallows humor.

Sorry young people. We old people are about to turn this dogs breakfast over to you.

» Posted By agrippa On March 22, 2016 @ 5:07 am

Interesting article.

It will be very hard to turn back to a less “global” world and turn back on free trade. Those two questions have, essentially, been asked and answered.
By implication, the article argues for a Green Party. As some Greens say, “act locally, think globally”.
Over the long term, the planet earth does not have the carrying capacity to sustain the human population. Unfortunately, that is a time scale that is difficult for mortal humans to imagine, much less think about.

The consequences of over populaton, over consumption, increased warming, will create major distress. There could be a major “die off” of humans in the next century.

» Posted By agrippa On March 14, 2016 @ 7:56 am

Yes. But Trump believes that being hated is much better than being ignored.
Before running for President he was only a Reality TV show host.
He will see how well that will work out in the run up to November. That kitchen will get very hot as the election campaign will be merciless after the nominations.
He may wish that he was ignored; but, I doubt it. For Trump, being ignored is death.

» Posted By agrippa On March 14, 2016 @ 6:10 am

With delusions of becoming the bargain basement Mussolini

» Posted By agrippa On March 13, 2016 @ 6:09 pm

My first concern is foreign policy; for practical reasons and political reasons.
First and foremost, we can not afford a third land war in Asis.
The Iran Nuclear deal benefits Israel, although Natanyahu does not realize it. There are two rational actors in that region: Isreal and Iran. Iran made the deal for reasons of state. Israel does what it does for reasons of state.
The Arab World is in a Revolutionary situation; the rulers cannot rule in the same old way and the ruled can not live in the same old way. Thus, the Arab Spring is far from over. A Revolutionary Situation is a dangerous one; about the only thing that can be predicted is that it is an inherently lethal situation.

I expect that the relations with Cuba can be called a “cold peace”. There should not be a big result from it.

When societies are under stress, there is real tendency to retreat into tribalism.
The article, “The Obama Doctrine”, in the Atlantic, is an article worth reading.

Foreign policy blunders can have lethal consequences.

North Korea is a serious problem; it is a very poor and oppressive hermit kingdom.

» Posted By agrippa On March 12, 2016 @ 5:59 am

I agree 100%.

As FDR said when someone told him ( in, of course, diplomatic language), “We have to do ____”,

“Make me do it”.

Mobilized and sustained public pressure upon the political class will have to provide the political class with the necessary courage.
Politicians are mere mortals and will take the line of least resistance whenever possible.

» Posted By agrippa On March 10, 2016 @ 6:18 pm

I agree that one of the first things that a Democratic Party controlled Congress has to do is to pass Glass Steagall. Repealing it was worse than a crime; it was a blunder.
And, there needs to be stronger regulation of derivatives ( for example, mortgages that could not be repaid were put into ‘packages’ and sold to other banks and were shorted by others)which turns banking into a casino.
There are other problems as well.

All that requires courage on the part of a Democratic Party controlled Congress.

» Posted By agrippa On March 10, 2016 @ 10:51 am

Understood.
I do not have a problem with that.
Wall St does warrant closer scrutiny and stricter regulation.

Wall Street will not be made to go away; it, and all those who are there are here to stay.
It is a matter of regulating behavior.
Congress ( and its’ 535 members are elected) has to enact Legislation that effectively regulates the behavior of those on Wall St.
On the matter of this regulation, the devil is in the detail. What are the bad behaviors that need to be forbidden?
All that means that Congress needs to have members that will enact such legislation.

We should keep in mind that FDR, and the New Deal, had a large majority in Congress who did pass laws.
But, those were imperfect; and, did not satisfy a large segment of the population. Those laws did not do enough according to many.

» Posted By agrippa On March 10, 2016 @ 7:42 am

Back in 2014, I wondered who was going to run for President in 2016.
The Democratic Party, IMHO, has two major factions: the Clinton wing” ( for want of a better names), AKA DLC. And, the progressive wing. But, no one stood out with exception of Hillary Clinton. The progressive Wing had no one who seemed to want the job. To put it a little differently, the two factions could be called Establishment and Anti Establishment.
Sanders became the candidate of the Progressives almost be default as did Clinton became the candidate of the other faction.
I looked for someone to run against Hillary Clinton, but I did not see one.
This is fairly neat and tidy.

Not so the GOP. Most unneat and untidy. The Admin of GWB was a disaster; which the GOP wants to forget as fast as it can. The GOP has accomplished that task. But, GWB hurt the Party.
Basically, the GOP really did not ( and does not) have a National figure to run. Thus, many candidates. That is one reason we have Trump. He had no opposition worthy of the name.

It would be nice if people were interested and involved in politics and current events; but, they are not. It would be nice if people were informed and involved and ran for office; but, they are not.
Too many people do not care enough to do any of that; if they were, we would not have the politicians that we have.

» Posted By agrippa On March 7, 2016 @ 6:13 pm

Nirek,
You must be proud!!!

» Posted By agrippa On March 7, 2016 @ 4:55 pm

In regard to the Sarin gas attack, there is not sufficient evidence to convict anyone that would hold up in a Court of Law. A lot of rhetoric is out and about; but rhetoric is not inculpating

The wars in the Arab World begin with drought and the consequences.
Then , the response of governments, home and foreign.
Organizations such as ISIS arose out of this and took advantage.

The climate of the Arab World is a desert. Analysis of the region should take that into account. A desert has a very low carrying capacity and is very sensitive to water shortage and drought.

» Posted By agrippa On March 7, 2016 @ 2:45 pm

Yes. Sanders did make the connection.

Not only that – people missed the Drought and the catastrophic conditions that were caused by it.
These consequences, plus the repression, led to the ferment.
This is not just Syria; the drought effects Iraq as well. It helps fuel the unrest in Iraq. And, Libya.

The catastrophe in the Arab World is not just bad politics. It is. also, a “water war”.

» Posted By agrippa On March 7, 2016 @ 10:53 am